Movies
As Another Big Date Approaches, Here’s the Latest on the ‘Friday the 13th’ Legal Battle
We have now passed the longest stretch of time without a new Friday the 13th movie in the franchise’s history, and with the legal battle still dragging out, there’s no telling how much longer we’ll have to wait before we see Jason Voorhees back up on the big screen. What’s the latest on all that, you ask? Well, first let’s briefly recap the key points at play here.
Last year, after he exorcised his legal rights, a judge ruled that writer Victor Miller is the sole owner of the original Friday the 13th screenplay (in the United States only, oddly enough), but the judge declined to make a ruling on who currently owns the character of “adult Jason Voorhees,” who of course didn’t actually appear within the franchise until the second film.
The rights are split, and the two sides haven’t come to any agreements – Victor Miller, the original film’s writer, and Sean Cunningham, the film’s director and the franchise’s owner.
Subsequently, Friday the 13th director Sean Cunningham filed a notice of appeal, and then we soon thereafter learned that LeBron James is working on getting his hands into the franchise. Most recently, the withdrawal of Cunningham and Horror Inc’s appeal was filed (for technical reasons, Larry Zerner notes), and at this time, no settlement of any kind has been reached.
The next step? As Zerner (an entertainment lawyer who also happens to have played Shelly in Friday the 13th: Part 3) noted over on Twitter today, “The parties stipulated to dismiss the appeal but must reinstate by 4/12. So, that gives them 10 more days to settle the case. That doesn’t mean that they can’t settle later, but it puts the pressure on.”
He continued, “Also, based on my experience, the most likely reason that they dismissed the Appeal is that both sides believed that they could get the case settled. So, fingers crossed!”
In other words, it’s possible that this whole mess *could* be settled on or before April 12th of this year, but don’t get your hopes up just yet. At this time, anything could still happen here.
More as we learn it.
Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Freaky) is staying busy here in 2024, directing not only the werewolf movie Big Bad but also an upcoming thriller titled Drop.
The project for Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes is being described as a “fast-paced thriller,” and Deadline reports today that Violett Beane (Truth or Dare) has joined the cast.
Newcomer Jacob Robinson has also signed on to star in the mysterious thriller. Previously announced, Meghann Fahy (“White Lotus”) will be leading the cast.
Landon recently teased on Twitter, “This is my love letter to DePalma.”
Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach wrote the script.
Michael Bay, Jason Blum, Brad Fuller and Cameron Fuller — “who brought the script in to Platinum Dunes” — are producing the upcoming Drop. Sam Lerner is an executive producer.
THR notes, “The film is a Platinum Dunes and Blumhouse production for Universal.”
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